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breastfeeding and solids

Dd2 Started solids at 6 months. I've been using BLW and things have been going swimmingly up until now. However in the last couple of weeks I've noticed a huge drop in bf and a huge jump in the amount of solids she is consuming. When i attempt to bf her often she's far to distracted in general either with her sister or even her own body. I've tried nursing necklaces and quite rooms but with little success. I know right now it's more important to nurse that to eat and I'm not sure whether i should cut back on her solids (i swear she eats as much as her 3yr old sister at some meals) . Dd2 weight gain is great but i wondered what other mom's thought i should be doing. Thanks for your help.

born 03/24/11, and and born 03/21/08 Breastfed for 2 yrs, and still when needed

Re: breastfeeding and solids

Hi: we had the same thing happen for about 2-3 weeks, but then it moderated a bit for a couple weeks, and then he went back to nursing almost full time for a week! Those weeks he hardly nursed I did express a lot when uncomfortable, and even pumped a couple times for stash-purposes (because it was there, so why not?); we were also nursing almost continuously at night. If you cosleep, dream feeds might help. It seems to me there is a lot of variation during this period we've been calling the babbler (between baby and toddler) months.

Kate

Mother to a sweet boy, born at 34 weeks on 2/11/11.
Proud that I grew 26 lbs of baby before solids, and still counting...

Re: breastfeeding and solids

I can't put in any breastmilk in a sippy cup because i don't have a pump. I have tried to express manually (i wanted to use bm in her cereal) however it just takes far to long to manually do it:-). I did discover last night that when i look closely her first tooth is finally making an apperance. It may be that her mouth just hurts too much to nurse, i have noticed a drastic change in her sleeping habits in the last couple of days. If it is due to her teeth should i still cut back on her solids? Or just see how things progress once the tooth is in?

born 03/24/11, and and born 03/21/08 Breastfed for 2 yrs, and still when needed

Re: breastfeeding and solids

You could get a handpump,which might get you thru this period. Also, I've found that if i can my son to latch onfor a couple minutes, I get a let down, and then it's much easierto hand express. Youmight try that... ( sorry, ipad keyboard)

Kate

Mother to a sweet boy, born at 34 weeks on 2/11/11.
Proud that I grew 26 lbs of baby before solids, and still counting...

Re: breastfeeding and solids

Encourage bb to nurse more. Keep trying the quiet rooms etc. If she wants to look at sister, can you cuddle sister and read or something while nursing? I tandem nursed and one surefire way to get bb to want to nurse was to nurse older brother, even if you are not tandem nursing you may be able to create a facsimile? Do you nurse at night? Night nursing is a very good way to help BB get enough and keep your supply up. As far as cutting back on soilds, that may or may not be neccesary but you are right, the reccomendation is that a babies primary calories coming from breastmilk until at least one year.